CHAPTER II 



PLANNING THE GROUND 



THE plot being made over to you, you will naturally 

 be keen on getting to work, but do not be in too great a 

 hurry. First of all, procure a ball of string, twelve yards 

 long, make knots in it at every yard and fix a little 

 wooden stake at either end. Go down to the holding 

 and measure the plot. Probably it will be a five or 

 ten rod allotment. Five rods is a trifle small, but ten 

 rods will be a good workable size. If it is of the latter 

 dimensions and well proportioned, it will be just about 

 big enough to serve as a tennis court. Take the ball of 

 string and measure the ground ; the dimensions of a 

 ten rod plot will probably be twenty by fifteen yards or 

 thereabouts. The first thing is to cut the plot into two 

 and run a path down the middle. Before deciding 

 which way the path is to go, remember that the rows of 

 plants must run as nearly north and south as your plot 

 will allow. Therefore the path, which need only be 

 wide enough to take a wheelbarrow, should go east and 

 west. 



Having arranged this little matter, take a sheet of 

 paper, sketch out a rough plan and mark in the 

 path. You now have two strips of land, twenty by 

 seven yards, or fifteen by nine and a half yards, accord- 

 ing to which way the path runs. In the following 



